William-j



(No Model.)V

W. J STEVES '8v A. J.` HILL.

SCREW PROPBLLBR.

No. 870,567. Patented Sept. 27, 1887.

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WITNESSE, INVENTUR: Why/w@ l ma 'mfw'wf BY g ATTORNLY-S.l 5

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM-J. STEVES AND ADREW J. HILL, OF MEOHANIOSVILLE, NEW YORK.

SCREW-PROPELLER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 370,567, datedseptember 27, 1887.

Application filed April 2P, 188'?. Serial No. 336,464. (No model.)

To all wtont it, may concern.-

Be it known that we, WILLIAM J. STEvEs and ANDREW J. HILL, ofMechanicsville, in the county of Saratoga and State of New York, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Propellers, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description.

Our invention relates to an improvement in propellers, and has for itsobject to provide a means whereby the blades ofla propeller may bechanged to any desired angle or pitch required without stoppage of theengine.

The invention consists in the construction and combination of theseveral parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed outin the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part ofthis specification, in which similar letters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure l is a central vertical section th rough Inyimproved device; Fig.2, a transverse section on line :v w of Fig. l, and Fig. 3 is aperspective view of a geared sleeve employed in the construction of thedevice.

In carrying the invention into effect, A represents the main or drivingshaft of an engine, to the outer end of which a hub, A', is secured,carrying four or more propelling blades or flukes, B. The shank of eachblade projecting down through the hub is provided therein with anintegral bevel-gear, B', as shown in Fig. 1.

Asleeve, D, is mounted upon the shaft A, having produced upon itsforward end a bevelgear, d, the said end being adapted to extend andrevolve within the hub A', engaging therein the bevelgears B. Collars dare formed upon said sleeve D at each side of the hull of thevessel,through which it passes, and upon the periphery of said sleeve,at the inner end, four integral pins, di, are provided, as illustratedin Fig. 3.

A second or reversing sleeve, E, is mounted upon the shaft and sleeve D,provided with four cam-slots, E, at one end and a wide interior collar,e, at the other end, together with an exterior collar, c', in alignmentwith said interior collar, yet slightly removed from the. end. Thesleeve E is so mounted as that the cam-slots Ereceive the pins d'l uponthesleeve D, andthe interior collar, e, which isprovided with a seriesof longitudinal grooves, is made to engage a series of splines, F,formed longitudinally the shaft, whereby the shaft and reversing'sleeveE are substantially integral.

The exterior collar, e', is engaged by an in teriorly-grooved ring, H,having trunnions 71, integral with the periphery upon opposing sides,asillustrated in Fig. 2, which trunnions arejournaled in the U-shapedlower end ofa lever, H', fulcrumed upon a pillow-block, It', secured atthe bottom of the boat.

To the upwardly-extending arm hE of the lever H a rod, h3, is pivoted,adapted to extend back to the engine-room or other con venient place,when it may be operated by hand or steam power.

III operation, While the propellers are revolvingalnovement of the leverand strap will also move the sleeve E, which, acting upon the sleeve D,will revolve the gears B, and thereby turn the flukes B to the desiredangle or pitch.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The combination, with the shaft A, the hub A, and revolublepropeller-blades B, having gears B' on their inner ends within the hub,0f^a sleeve, D, mounted loosely upon said shaft, carrying a gear, d,upon the inner end, adapted to mesh with said gear B', theadjustingsleeve E, the lever I-I, eonnected with said sleeve, and Ineansfor manipulating the sleeve D through the adjustingsleeve E from saidlever, substantially as shown and described, and for the purpose hereinset fort-h.

2. The combination, with the shaft A, the hub A', and revolublepropeller-blades B, having gear B attached thereto within the hub, ofthe sleeve D, mounted loosely upon the said shaft, carrying a gear, d,upon the inner end and pins cl2 upon the outer end, a sleeve, E, splinedto said shaft, having cam-slots E', adapted to engage said pins, agrooved ring, H, engaging said sleeve E, the lever H', fulcrumed in apillowblock, and means for operating said lever, substantially as shownand described.

VILLIAM J. STEVES. ANDREW J. HILL., Vitnesses:

EDWARD H. SAWYER, SIDNEY CRANE.

